Chicago approves second Wal-Mart store

July 01, 2010|By Hal Dardick, Tribune Reporter

The City Council's resounding 50-0 vote Wednesday to give the go-ahead on construction of the city's second Wal-Mart may have cleared the way for an unprecedented push by the giant retailer in Chicago.

Allowing a Super Wal-Mart on the Far South Side comes after a six-year battle that pitted Mayor Richard Daley, Wal-Mart and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce against unions, labor-backed aldermen and social activists opposed to Wal-Mart's business practices.

In the end, Daley's side scored a hard-earned victory, one that sets aside a nettlesome political issue as he mulls whether to seek a record seventh term next year. Wal-Mart also came out a winner as it sets its sights on building dozens of Chicago stores and others in large U.S. cities.

The company has no stores in New York, four in Los Angeles and one in Chicago. The store approved Wednesday to anchor the 270-acre Pullman Park project is likely the first of many more, large and small, across the city.

"Our real estate team is out evaluating opportunities across the city to determine where further stores could be built," Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo said. "Our hope is to bring our full plan to fruition and deliver several dozen stores across the city over the next five years."

Daley is on board, even as some aldermen vowed to carefully watch Wal-Mart in the city. "Today's vote sets the stage for a strong, long-term relationship with Wal-Mart in neighborhoods all across our city," Daley said. "Wal-Mart will be good for our neighborhoods, good for our workers."

The mayor dismissed concerns that Wal-Mart would put smaller, local stores out of business, saying there isn't enough space for the large Wal-Marts in the neighborhoods where those smaller stores thrive.

The only other time a Wal-Mart store won approval in Chicago was in 2004, when aldermen allowed the company to build in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. Then unions dug in their heels, saying they feared Wal-Mart would depress wages and run smaller, local retailers out of business.

In 2006, pro-union aldermen voted to enact a higher minimum wage of more than $11 an hour for stores like Wal-Mart, but Daley vetoed it. Unions then backed several aldermen who defeated Daley allies in the 2007 elections, cementing the political logjam that prevented Wal-Mart expansion.

But the economy grew worse, unemployment rose and city revenue dipped. So in December, Daley said it was time to reconsider so the city could get more jobs and boost tax income. Wal-Mart and the Chicago Federation of Labor met in recent weeks, but by then labor was torn, with tens of thousands of construction workers idled by the economy.

Last week, labor agreed to the Pullman Park store, saying Wal-Mart had agreed to pay starting workers at least $8.75 an hour, 50 cents more than the minimum wage as of Thursday. The company also promised to give workers a raise of at least 40 cents after a year, labor officials said.

Restivo said his company is merely operating as it does elsewhere by paying competitive wages.

Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, who pushed for the Pullman Park development in his ward for years, said it was the pressure of people hungry for jobs and fresh produce that made the vote finally go his way.

It signals "a better day and a better opportunity for our communities. … This was about the people, and we finally — in this body — finally put people first, in front of politics," Beale said.